Nestled on a quiet street corner of the Campwoods neighborhood in Ossining is an old school, kid friendly cafe with an old fashioned counter, and wallet friendly prices. I just spent of of the nicer afternoons with Catherine, and the highlight was our time at the Wobble Cafe.

Catherine had a strawberry smoothie and PB and J and Dad enjoyed his chocolate shake & BLT. I loved the atmosphere- the old fashioned cash register, the counter with a jar of rock candy, and the play area in back with the toys and couch. These places are rare. 

The menu is more than peanut butter and jelly- they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, with an enticing, yummy bistro styled selection and according to their website the chef studied under Emeril! Not bad! 

Wobble Cafe is located at 21 Campwoods Road in Ossining, NY. You can reach them at 914-762-3459. 

Ossining is my home town and a beautiful community. To find a home in Ossining or the surrounding area, get yourself a free Listingbook account and sreach the MLS like an agent! 

I got a phone call from a fellow independent broker-owner yesterday asking how one would transition into being a listing agent when they were not focused on that part of the business before. Good question, and it is one that has been asked before by Brian Rugg when he relocated to a new state. 

I have “started from scratch” twice. I was first licensed in Rochester, NY where I was new in town and had no sphere of influence. Years later, after I met my wife, I relocated back home to Westchester, where I had not lived since high school. In both cases, I started with zero listings and no sales. 

Here is what I would do if starting from scratch in a new area:

1. Expired listings. I prospected anyone in my entire county who came off the market unsold. Back in the day I would drop off brochures, knock on doors and call on the phone. Today I am more direct mailer oriented, with a piece that drives traffic to a web page specifically for people who expired unsold. 
2. For Sale by Owner. I view FSBOs as open listings who want to sell and haven’t chosen an agent yet. Some are hardcore anti-agent, but most in my area will cooperate if you have a buyer or are not hitting them over the head about how dumb it is to go FSBO. Even if you don’t have a client in mind, just get a look at the house for potential buyers. I have gotten many a call back from people who appreciated that I wasn’t a hard sell. 
3. Distress/Short Sale. This is especially for people who know their way around short sales and distressed properties. In my state defaults are public record. Most of them get contacted by out of state investors who harvest county clerks nationwide. They are more likely to work with someone who is licensed, local and whose hand they can shake. If you are unfamiliar with this niche, consider working for a broker who can help you. 
4. BLOG. Write hyper local on subdivisions, restaurants, and community events. POST PHOTOS with some brief commentary on local beauty. You don’t need to be Hemingway or Faulkner. And at the end of the post, put a link to your IDX so that the post has a real-estate related call to action and that people know you sell real estate. Blogs are also an online resume and pre-listing package for anyone who googles you. 

This past Thursday Luke’s Cub Scout den had a visit to Cortlandt Town Court to get their badge for civics. I was eager to go, because I actually know the judge. I sold his aunt’s house a few years ago!

One thing that struck me about court was the huge number of drunk driving cases we saw. In the 90 minutes we saw people appearing before the judge, at least half a dozen cases of drunk driving or driving under the influence were there. One was even in custody, because the last time they appeared in court they were arrested AGAIN that very day for DWI! You can’t write fiction like that! 

Clearly, DWI is still a terrible problem, and I am going to be a wreck when my kids drive. As my mom used to say, I am not only worried about them. It is those other cars I don’t know about. 

After the court took a break, the den had a chance to speak with the judge, and they had a good question and answer session with Justice Daniel McCarthy. He was terrific with the kids and answered all of their crazy questions. I think, for the record, most kids watch too much TV. 

We also got to spend some time with a state police officer who was there to testify for a number of the cases, and the officer showed the den around the facility, let them see the inside of the patrol car, and then answered their questions. He gave them a terrific talk about guns and their dangers, and I might just post that video up when I get 30 seconds. 

This is something the kids will always remember, and understanding our system of justice, and the good folks who make it work on a municipal level-even the lawyers- was very gratifying to me. 

We are less than a week into “Spring” but the Spring Market has already begun in Westchester. Things are getting busy, as the cyclical nature of our industry turns to the most active period between now and July 4th. If this is the year you are looking to buy that first home, or even if you are looking to sell and perhaps “move up” you should assemble your dream team of professionals to make sure you have all the resources to make the move a happy one. 

Buying or selling a home is typically the largest business transaction of a person’s life. Given the enormous values of property in Wwestrchester and the surrounding areas, there is little room for error. Mistakes can be very expensive. Many of the short sales and pre-foreclosures I have sold in the last 2-3 years had their genesis in early mistakes. Choose your professionals wisely. 

1. Your Agent. Ideally, a full time agent with a verifiable track record, references and a plan of action that makes sense to you is where to start. Interview at least 3 agents. Common mistakes to avoid are not verifying the agent’s claims, credentials, or experience. 
2. Mortgage professional. If you are going to buy, the first thing to do is get pre approved. It takes 15 minutes on the phone to start, costs nothing, and will let you know exactly what you can afford. Don’t choose an out of town lender or one that sells their wares solely on rate alone. 
3. Attorney. We are an attorney state, and in Metropolitan New York attorneys also prepare contracts and run title. They are the broker’s partner in negotiations and troubleshooting, and they also deal closely with your loan officer. Given that the other side will have an attorney, you want a lawyer that is local, responsive,a dn specializes in real estate. Choosing your union attorney or a friend to same a small fee is flirting with disaster. We recently had a buyer client use an attorney who cost them $15,000 when he did not attend to an issue clearly.
4. Home inspector. If you are buying a house, get it inspected. Period. You want, ideally, an ASHI member, and one who is thorough, provides photos in their reports, and not an alarmist. It should cost $500 or so for a typical starter home. It is worth 10 times that amount.   

A Shameless, Brazen Self Pimping Piece Follows. All sold data is taken from the Empire Access MLS: 

Much like the rest of the country, there is still a significant malaise over the Westchester County real estate market. From January 1, 2010 until March 26, 2010 there were 708 single family homes sold in Westchester County at a median sale price of $600,000. In that same period of 2011, only 662 single family homes closed, and they had a median price of $560,000. 

Prices are down 7% in Westchester and transaction totals are down 6% overall. Not good. 

J. Philip Real Estate, however, is not having the same downward trend in the least. As I do every quarter, I have run the numbers, and they are showing we are bucking the trend enormously.

In the first 116 days of 2010, our company had only 5 closings with a volume of $1.6 million. In that same period of 2011, we have closed 15 transactions with a volume of $6.2 million. Sales volume is up 300% and dollar volume is up 400%. 

Looking at homes under contract, we are poised to have an even more active 2nd quarter. As I type this, before April 1 is even here, we have contracts on 8 properties at a dollar amount of almost $3 million. Our team is out there making things happen. It’s not just hard work- I expect that my colleagues at other firms are also working very, very hard.

Our marketing machine is getting our listings out front.
Our short sales are getting approved and closed successfully.
We are converting offers to contracts-no easy feat in this climate.
Our social media efforts are bearing fruit.  
Our clients are taking our advice to get the desired outcome. This cannot be stressed enough. Our sellers are pricing to sell, and our buyers are out there to buy.  

We are getting it done all over Westchester and Putnam counties: Pelham, Chappaqua, Scarsdale, White Plains, Yorktown, Tuckahoe, Peekskill, Ossining, Hartsdale, Ardsley. You name it, we are getting the deals done.  I couldn’t be more proud of our team, and I couldn’t be more pleased that our plan of attack is working. 

Recent posts:
Short Sale Seller: Everyone is Getting Paid But Me.
Why I Will Happily Shell Out the 40 Bucks

Just about every home sale is stressful on the seller. A short sale, given the higher stakes and financial ramifications, often has even more stress for the seller than a typical transaction. On a few occasions, I have had a short sale client lament that they are “left out” in a way, in that everyone is going to walk away from the closing with money except them. Short sale sellers realize no proceeds at closing. 

I recall the first instance where this occurred; the seller didn’t really want to sell, and was dismayed at what her perceived as a feeding frenzy around him over his loss. The agents were making a fee, the lawyers were getting a check, and he’d lose his house. It didn’t seem right to him. The listing expired unsold 3 years ago, and it remains unsold with the 3rd listing agent. I don’t think the people could let go. 

So what it in it for someone to do a short sale when they don’t get any money? Quite a bit if you ask me. 

You avoid a foreclosure. A good point was made by the Distressed Property Institute in the CDPE course: negative trade lines lose their punch and fall off over time, but the one question on every mortgage application is “have you ever had a foreclosure?” 

You leave your home with dignity. That goes for you and the neighborhood. Anyone who sells their home moves out on their own terms. Nobody evicts them, and nobody knocks on the door informing them he represents the lender and the house is now theirs. Short sale sellers pack their things and move to their next home like anyone else. And the neighborhood avoids the blight of a bank owned REO and all the baggage that comes with it. 

You minimize the impact to your credit. A foreclosure is a nuclear event in credit. I could name nothing worse. While many people who do sell short have late payments, if they manage things correctly they can often be qualified to buy again in 24 months.

You avoid a deficiency judgment. A properly negotiated short sale typically results in the waiver of any deficiency. The slate is wiped clean. As I told my former client, if he just let the house go to foreclosure he wouldn’t get any money either. Worse, a deficiency judgment could haunt him thereafter. 

I suppose there are other reasons, but to those who view a short sale as unpalatable, I would ask what they’d propose as a better option. Sometimes you have to choose your poison. Banks aren’t modifying loans these days- as a matter of fact, many of my clients came to me after they were turned down a 2nd and 3rd attempt to modify. You may not walk away with money in a short sale these days. But in a successfully negotiated short sale, do do get something few people consider: a second chance. 

To add one more point, there are programs coming into prominence that do offer sellers a small stipend in a short sale, some as much as $7,000. I saw a letter from Chase today referencing up to a $20,000 credit for a short sale. I am sure the small print is copious for that, but HAFA is the first place we are going with our clients in short sales so they can get a credit from their lender at closing. Not every short sale broker is alike. You need a good one who knows how to get the debt discharged and the deficiency waived. 

For my colleagues in the real estate industry…”politics makes strange bedfellows”

I’ll preface my thoughts by tipping my cap to the memory of Elizabeth Taylor to make a point: when you think of the late Ms. Taylor, what number do you first think of? 

If the number is her 8 marriages, may I suggest 100,000,000. Because she raised $100 Million for AIDS research, much of it before anyone else jumped on board. Notable people and notable things are more than what they seem. I’ll keep 8 with Yogi Berra. 

There has been much written, often with angst, about the proposal by NAR to essentially charge every member another $40 annually to support what is referred to as the “Realtor Party.” I have given this some serious thought the past few days and the kernel of my conclusion is what I first wrote on Jay Thompson’s article about the matter: I believe that NAR’s hand was forced because the important work done by RPAC, the Realtor Political Action Committee, is not supported by enough members. 

I am as guilty as anyone. I never knew much about RPAC until I attended NYSAR’s mid-winter meeting in Albany last month. There, I saw firsthand the crucial- and I do not use that word lightly- advocacy that RPAC does for our members and industry. I saw a work group of our best and brightest discussing how to address proposed laws in Albany that would impose draconian restrictions on advertisements by brokerages, as if we weren’t already over regulated. 

For those of you who either say or nod in agreement that your NAR membership is good for MLS membership and little else (see my remark on the late Ms. Taylor), let me give you a few thumbnails on the important work RPAC has taken on:

• RPAC has successfully kept banks out of the real estate industryy. Chew on that if the short sale or REO process work for you. 
• New York finally passed a Commission Escrow Act which mandates that sellers who dispute and withhold a broker commission deposit the funds in escrow and go to arbitration. This is far better than having to litigate what in two cases of my own were simply dishonorable deadbeats who thought they’d steal services. 
• RPAC is fighting transfer taxes, which are the tax de jour of some municipalities who face the consequences of their bloated budgets. Transfer taxes hurt our industry and really hurt the consumers, especially sellers who need every penny of equity they can get and buyers who are already beset with trepidation in this climate. New York transfer taxes are the highest I know.
• They are working to preserve the mortgage interest deduction, which should need not a syllable of debate in this forum. Not a syllable. 

What Can You Buy for $540,000 in Tuckahoe, NY? 

$540,000 goes alot farther than a few years ago in places like Tuckahoe. Take for example this 4 bedroom, 3 bath 2800 square foot home our buyers recently closed on. They got a big living room and formal dining room, a family room with a fireplace, a beautiful stainless steel and granite kitchen, and a finished basement. The yard is almost a quarter acre, and there is also a rear deck and a 2-car garage. The location is stellar- transportation, shopping, schools and even Concordia College are all within 5 minutes. 

Congratulations to our buyer clients, who made a long journey with us to get their keys, and to Tom Ricapito, buyer agent extraordinaire.